Episodes: The Lincolns’ Relationship Slowly Recovers

This week, Episodes was very blunt and was filled with both serious and absurd conflicts. The show opens with Matt entering his house late at night to find his stalker, Labia topless in his kitchen. He is shocked that she even found a way into his house. Labia has a very calm response to Matt’s anger. She is very aware that Matt does not like her, but she does not care. She is just excited to tell him that she made cookies. Labia still thinks of Matt as a childhood crush who kept her spirits up when she had cancer. She uses her cancer as a way to get sympathy from Matt. Matt tries to calm her down somewhat nicely. He explains that she had cancer, but she survived and is now healthy. Under the circumstances, Matt has no problem screaming at her to get out of his house. She then says that she would die for Matt. He acknowledges, almost regrettably, that she did not die. Finally, Matt threatens to call the police. Labia promptly puts her clothes on and leaves. The beginning was not particularly relevant to the rest of the episode, but it did a great job setting up Matt’s bitter attitude that he would have for the rest of the episode.

One of the main plots of the episode followed Matt attempting to book one of his former Friends costars for a guest role on Pucks!. He receives a call from Merc Lapidus. Merc says that the network is trying to advertise Pucks! heavily during sweeps and that an appearance from one of the Friends actors would help promote the show. Merc also asks Matt to give a speech before Merc receives an award at a charity benefit. Matt and Merc are reasonably pleasant to each other over the phone but they cannot help profanely criticizing each other after they end the phone call. The repressed hatred that many of the characters have for each has always been one of the highlights of the show.

Matt begins his search for a guest star. First, he calls Lisa Kudrow. Only Matt’s side of the conversation is seen, but it is clear that he said something in the past that offended Kudrow. The comment that offended Kudrow is never revealed, but it is funnier that way. It was amusing to see Matt desperately trying to defend himself over something completely unknown. This trend continued with the other former Friends stars that Matt had to contact. David Schwimmer took issue with an antisemitic joke that Matt told. Matthew Perry was angry that he was not the first person that Matt contacted. Matt asked how he knew that he wasn’t the first person he called. Perry says that Schwimmer told him about his call. Matt is angry at Schwimmer for telling Perry about his previous calls.This leads to a string of conversations in which Matt constantly has to apologize for offending Schwimmer and Perry. Matt is surprised that Schwimmer and Perry still talk so often. Matt calls Jennifer Aniston next and is put on hold. He asks her agent for her cell phone number, but she refuses. It is revealed during Matt’s conversation with Courtney Cox that Matt allegedly urinated on Aniston’s Emmy Award. Cox is the most polite Friends actor to talk to Matt, but she still cannot guest star on Pucks!. None of the Friends stars are seen or heard during the episode. It would have been interesting to see the Friends stars, but LeBlanc’s performance of a one-sided conversation was strong.

The episode continued on the set of Pucks!. Matt asks Sean and Beverly to write a to speech for the award that Matt clearly does not want to present at all. By asking Sean and Beverly to write his speech, he can think about it as infrequently as possible. Sean and Beverly say that speech writing is not their thing, but they have never been able to say no to Matt. Another plot point was the issue of solving Morning Randolph’s problem with her botched cheek implant. On last week’s show, she had been convinced that she could not be seen on camera, but Sean assured her that the staff would “make it work.” The implant was eventually hidden, so Morning shifted the conversation to Beverly’s love life. Beverly had been making pleasant conversation with Morning’s brother on set. According to Morning, her brother was attracted to Beverly. Naturally, Beverly is hesitant to get involved with anyone because of her uncertain relationship with Sean. Morning is very manipulative and still attracted to Sean. She may seem pleasant but she may also have a motive to keep Sean for herself.

When Beverly is exercising with Carole, she tells her that Morning attempted to set her up with her brother. Carole does not understand why she is hesitant. It seems clear to her that Beverly should move on, but Beverly still hopes she can win Sean back. Carole and Beverly’s talks are a weak point for the show. They are basically the same conversation over and over again. Stubbornness has always been a part of Beverly’s character. Even so, the Lincolns still love each other. Sean may still be distraught, but their chemistry is very clear when they are attempting to write a speech for Matt. They clearly have no idea what to do, so they get drunk instead. Their conversation shifts from professional to personal as Beverly asks about Sean’s mother, whonever liked Beverly and Beverly assumed that she would rejoice in the fact that they are separated. Sean then tells Beverly mother doesn’t know of their separation. Beverly is more convinced than ever that Sean still loves her and she promptly seduces him. Just before they are about to have sex, Sean stops and regrettably tells Beverly that he cannot stop picturing her with Matt. The Lincoln’s relationship seemed to be recovering, but it is now more complicated than ever.